World-famous shrines damaged

Prambanan: Saturday's killer earthquake in Indonesia badly damaged the world renowned Prambanan temple complex, sending intricate carved relics crashing to the ground and destroying years of restoration work in under a minute.

The temple which along with nearby Borobudur are living reminders of the rich Hindu and Buddhist past of what is now the world's most populous Muslim nation was built in the 9th century, and is recognised by the United Nation's as a world heritage site.

Yesterday, chunks of broken walls and carvings lay scattered over the ground at the foot of its eight main shrines, with some pieces as big as a child. Pieces of small temples called "candis" also had broken off.

An initial survey showed there was extensive damage to the complex, one of the largest Hindu temple compounds in Southeast Asia, said Agus Waluyo, head of the Yogyakarta Archaeological Conservation Agency. "It will take months to identify the precise damage," he said.

He said the site would be closed to the public until archaeologists are able to determine whether Saturday's 6.3-magnitude quake also affected the foundation or tilted the shrines. The nearby Borobudur Buddhist complex appears to have escaped any damage from the quake because it was further from the epicentre of the temblor, officials said.

Vacation

The sites, close to the ancient city of Yogyakarta, draw more than a million tourists a year.

Watching the sun set or rise from the compounds is often cited as a highlight of a vacation to Indonesia, along with the beaches and nightlife of nearby Bali island.

"I'm very sad it's in such a state," said Dermanto, who has worked as a security guard at the temple for 21 years, and was also inspecting the damage. "It will be difficult to repair," said Dermanto.